


In Safe Hands

by AntigravityDevice



Category: VA-11 Hall-A (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Morning After, Post-Canon, Wall Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:35:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntigravityDevice/pseuds/AntigravityDevice
Summary: When Alma's cybernetic hands get mysteriously hacked, she goes to her favourite bartender for help.
Relationships: Alma Armas/Jill Stingray
Comments: 28
Kudos: 112
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	In Safe Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaerstyne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaerstyne/gifts).



> Thanks to S. for the beta read!

Jill pulled the strings of her apron into a sharp bow and swept her fringe from her eyes. The interface glowed in the neon-lit bar until Gillian thought to switch on the rest of the lights.

"Music?" he called.

"On it."

Jill made up a playlist of easygoing songs, perfect for a dull Thursday night in January, and hoped it would stay relevant. One too many beers the previous night had left an ache behind her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for a Night of the Corgis: Electric Boogaloo.

"Okay," she mumbled under her breath, "time to mix drinks and change li--"

The unlocked doors flew open, and Alma burst into Valhalla, her open coat flapping about dramatically. Had she been waiting outside for the bar to open? She usually made smoother entrances than this. Gillian took one glance at her and went right back to making inventory, leaving her to Jill.

"...Big Cobalt Velvet?" Jill ventured.

Alma caught her breath, and found a bar stool. She flashed Jill a quick, surprised smile. "Okay, yes, please. You know me so well, but first... I need a favor." She fumbled in her coat pocket for a piece of paper, and passed it over to Jill.

Either she had terrible handwriting, or there was nothing on the paper but a string of meaningless letters and numbers.

"I need you to use my algorithms to check something," Alma explained, without actually explaining anything. "Now. On your interface."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

Alma made a frustrated noise and leaned over the bar to point at the screen. "You have access to an online cocktail catalogue; you just never use it because everything you serve is in your locally stored menu. That means you have limited BTS extranet access, which is all I need. Here. Type this in the address field, and then this, and then this. Simple."

Huh. Alma had taken over the bar computer exactly once before, and she knew things about it that Jill doubted even her boss was aware of.

"Uh... okay." Jill followed the pointing finger, and found where to start typing the string of numbers and letters. "Any reason why I'm the one hacking into my own interface instead of you?"

"Oh, please, this is not hacking. You're just releasing a couple of my pet algorithms to search the net for... Ah, there they go. Good boys." Alma tapped the bar impatiently with her gloved hands. "Okay, it's going to be doing that a while. I think I'll have that big Cobalt Velvet while we wait."

Jill did her best to ignore the fact that Alma was still leaning over the bar, practically shoving her tits in her face. No overcoat and sweater combo could keep that pair hidden away.

Not that Alma tried, really. Cheap tactic, but it obviously worked for her.

"Coming right up." Jill didn't need to check the catalogue for the recipes of Alma's favourites; she knew them all by heart. "Anything else I can offer today? How about a scalp massage? I keep hearing those are really relaxing."

"A few taps on a keyboard for your best friend, all right?" Alma sighed and slumped on the barstool. "Besides, it had to be here. I always try to make it here on Thursdays. I couldn't break the pattern, in case I'm being electrically followed."

Jill slid the Cobalt Velvet to her, and wiped her hands. "That... sounds like a line from a crime procedural."

"Well..." Alma glanced about in a suspicious manner, and took a big gulp of her drink.

The interface screen showed brief glimpses of commands. _Search keyword: wonderlander. Search keyword: artemis+will+nanoterrorism..._

"Alma?" Jill loaded her voice with gentle menace. "You know you can trust me. Spill it."

Alma glanced about again.

"I can't hear anything!" Gillian proclaimed.

The boss poked her head out of her office. "Neither can I! Carry on!"

Jill rolled her eyes and fished her cigarettes from the pocket of her uniform. "Boss, it's quiet. I'm taking an early break." She grabbed Alma's arm and pulled her along to the back door.

She could hear the pout in Gillian's voice. "We've barely even opened and you're leaving me alone? I was doing inventory!"

"Thanks, Bartolomeus," Alma said with one of her disarming smiles, and closed the door behind them.

*

It was fairly quiet outside, too. There was a chill in the air that made Jill wish she'd got her coat. The back alley was empty. Only a distant jingle reminded them of the nearby mall. Jill lit her cigarette, and pulled her hands into her sleeves to warm them.

"Okay, the face you're making right now? It makes me want to offer you one even though I know you don't smoke."

Alma let out a sweet, nervous laugh, and wrapped her arms around herself. "Stoicism really isn't my look. Especially when..." She bit her lip. Everything she did was a poker tell. "All right, long story short: the reason why I don't do my own typing is that my hands are not safe. They're... I have reason to believe they've been _infected_."

Jill glanced at her gloved hands. Oh. It was so easy to forget the hardware underneath those stylish gloves. "With... what?" 

"I'm thinking a highly sophisticated, custom-made nanomachine cloud," Alma said, her voice echoing with quiet terror.

Jill frowned. The cigarette wasn't helping with the sharp pain behind her eyes. "Wait. It's like a dose of advertisement nanomachines that hits you when you enter a shop?"

Hell, _her_ hands were probably infected with those, from all the browsing she did. No wonder her phone seemed to always magically know what satisfied that consumer itch the most and tempted her with obscure game sales.

"Technically, except if regular Glitch City nanomachines could hack anyone's non-organic parts, no modded person would dare to shop. Or go outside, for that matter. And QUINCY would declare a city-wide crisis if people stopped shopping." Alma let out an unamused laugh, then quickly sobered again. "It had to have been a localised attack. To get through my security measures... the nanomachines must've been introduced manually, close-range. Which means they broke into my home to infect me while I slept. I should feel honored. My hands have been hacked by professionals."

It was hard not to stare at Alma's hands and look for weird twitches, or any other signs that they were infected. "How... how did you figure it out?"

Alma was quiet for a moment, staring at her boots, and when she finally answered Jill could barely hear her. "When I woke up yesterday, I caught this... glimpse of my hand, moving against the pillow. Keyboard glow all over the pillowcase. It switched off in a blink, but I know what I saw. And when I checked the keylogs, there were these commands I'd never even entered. The logs were changed the next time I accessed them. This thing cleans up after itself." Her teeth dug into her full lip. "The worst part is that I don't know how long this has been going on. How long my hands have been doing this every time I've thought they've been in standby mode. It's obviously a sleeper program. They're built for long-term infiltration."

The ash dropped from Jill's momentarily's forgotten cigarette. She swallowed. "Oh, shit. That sounds... bad. Really bad. And creepy."

Alma huffed out a shaky breath, and threw her arms around Jill without warming, grasping her closer.

Jill did her best to keep the cigarette away from Alma's hair while the rest of her tried to decide what to do. "Um..."

"Just shut up and hug me, okay?"

The fingers that buried themselves into her hair and uniform were _Alma's_ , Jill told herself, not some alien device that had infiltrated her body. Jill dropped the cigarette butt and held her back. This was fine. A comforting hug. She could do that. All right, so she wasn't great at it, but she could give it a try.

Gradually, the two of them relaxed into the embrace, and the awkwardness melted away. They should've done this more often, Jill mused; she'd just mentally categorized Alma as a Conversational Friend, which meant there was usually a bar between them.

"That's better," Alma whispered, and gracefully withdrew enough to show Jill a warm smile.

Jill scrambled for something to say before the awkwardness could make a return. Alma's perfume -- moringa flower -- was subtle enough that she could only smell it now, this close. "What if you switched off the standby mode altogether? At least your hands wouldn't be doing anything behind your back. Or just disabled the keyboard?"

Alma shook her head. "Those are both key functions. When I ordered my hands, I specifically requested that they _can't_ be accessed without disabling my hands altogether. These fingers are made for typing, you know?" She mimed a few keyboard strokes in the air, and the projected keyboard flared underneath before she hid her hands in her coat pockets.

"Maybe you should, then? Switch them off until the problem is solved? You must have maintenance downtime, right?"

"Yes, in standby mode, so that if there's an emergency I can pause maintenance and, I don't know. Climb out of the window in case there's a fire or something." Alma made and exasperated noise. "Anything that requires a total reset I do in the shop, where there are professionals around to make sure it all goes well. Except I can't really go see my regular guy, because, well, I can't dump this on him before I know exactly what's going on, can I?"

"But you can dump it on me, obviously," Jill pointed out. She regretted it immediately when she saw the look on Alma's face.

"You wanted to know," Alma said, with a bit of a pout. "And there's no trace back to you, or this place. You were just looking for information on something you saw on the newsfeed. We're just talking. I wouldn't involve you in this if I thought it'd bring you trouble, Jill."

 _Not the right time to tease her, you idiot,_ Jill told herself, with a swift kick at her own ankle. 

"But _you're_ in trouble, aren't you?"

Alma glanced around, wrapping her arms around herself. "I'm sure as hell going to find out. Can we go back inside?"

*

The first thing Jill saw when she walked into the bar was the boss, bent over her work station. Gillian was by her side, telling her something in a low tone. They both glanced up when they heard the back door open. Uh oh. The jig was up. All three of them made a good impression of rabbits caught in the headlights before Alma pushed past Jill.

"Ah, Sweater Pups," the boss greeted, and folded her arms over her chest. "I thought this might have something to do with you."

"I'm afraid so." Alma walked right behind the counter to join them, peering at the screen. "Can I see what the results are, please? I can pay you for the use of your bar system, if that's a problem."

The boss waved her hand nonchalantly. Come to think of it, she had been complaining about how quiet it had been the past few days. There was a sparkle in her eye now. It was slightly worrying, but the boss was very talented in getting out of tight spots. Jill glanced about. The only customer in the bar was Jamie at the other end of the bar, and he was discretion personified. She joined the others.

"Did someone hire you to look into the arrests made in Artemis Will Mall?" Gillian asked. "Because it was barely mentioned in the news, but I hear they were after whistleblowers. The whole scene was total chaos. The café where they caught the suspects was completely trashed, and every phone and pad in the place was confiscated." He paused. "Er... so I hear."

Jill decided not to even ask. He'd just deny everything.

"Wonderlanders," Alma muttered under her breath. Her glasses glinted in the light of the screen as she flicked through the result pages. "These people were Wonderlanders? The anti-QUINCY group? Can't be. They can't have the resources for something like this."

"They seem to be losing ground, that's true," the boss interjected. "This is not the only so-called terrorist arrest this week. Maybe someone's infiltrated their group. Or one of them decided to sell out the rest in order to save their own skin. Be careful with jobs like this, Sweater Pups. The money's bound to be dirty."

Alma sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I wouldn't touch a job like this in a million years; it's way too hot. Oh, this is bad." She stifled a yawn, and gave herself a little shake. "But I guess this is what I suspected. Thank you for letting me use your interface. I... I need to do some more digging on this."

"Whoa, whoa." Jill caught her arm, and peered at her face. "How about something with caffeine first? When's the last time you slept?"

Alma's mouth made a tight little line. "When do you think?"

Oh. "Oh."

That was almost fifty hours ago, then. No wonder Alma was lacking some of her usual ease and poise.

The boss appeared at Alma's side. "Jill? Explain."

After they exchanged glances, Alma nodded. "I've been infected with a sleeper program that uses my hands while I sleep. I need to find out its purpose."

"So get someone to observe you while you sleep," Boss suggested. "You look like you could fall asleep right here and now. We could help with that."

Jill hoped she wasn't about to suggest knocking her out with the Zankantou.

Alma considered it, her features scrunching up in a full-face frown. "Well... I don't like it, but... If it's only for a limited time, it might offer a few more clues."

"Your office, Boss?" Jill suggested.

Gillian made to follow them, but Boss shooed him away to keep Jamie company.

"Would you like a comfy pillow?" Jill asked. It was a joke, but she wouldn't put it past the boss to keep blanket fort materials in her office.

Alma took Boss's chair without asking, and leaned her hands on the desk. "No need. I'll set them on standby and run a simple maintenance check. It shouldn't take more than a minute." She peeled off one of her gloves and revealed the sleek design of her hand. The keyboard appeared, and as she typed, the back of her hand lit up with a simple screen. She hit one more projected key, and the glow dimmed, the keyboard fading away as her hands settled against the desk.

For a long, tense while, they waited. Boss stalked about the room. Jill hovered behind Alma, not daring to touch her although she wished she could put her hand on her shoulder.

The keyboard switched on in a flash, and as soon as it did, Alma's hands started typing furiously. 

"Five minutes exactly," Alma mumbled. "Clever little thing."

It must've been eerie, watching her own hands working and knowing you had nothing to do with it.

This time the screen appeared above the keyboard instead of on the back of her hand. Jill leaned in to read what the hacked hands were typing, but she wasn't sure if it was a comfort to find it to be completely understandable.

"Wait, did it just access danger/u/?"

"It's mirror-posting to several other text boards, too," Alma said under her breath.

Boss pointed at the screen. The look on her face was stern. "I know that name. One of those arrested at the mall."

"And now it's adding IP addresses. Home addresses." Jill could imagine the discussion this would generate on danger/u/. The moderators wouldn't be any help; once the info was out there, it would spread. "Shit, Alma. Were you infected with nano trolls?"

"Worse," Alma snapped. Her back was very straight, adding to the weirdness of her frantically moving fingers while the rest of her was still as a pond. "This is Zaibatsu doing damage control. The Wonderlanders exposed corporate corruption during the holidays; this is the backlash. And they're using _my hands_ to do it."

As if on cue, the back of her hand blinked with _Maintenance complete, 0 errors found_ , and the keyboard switched off. Alma snatched her hands up from the desk and wrung them like she wanted to punish them and didn't know how.

Boss looked pensive. "I doubt you're the only one. It makes sense to spread out this kind of operation. Pick random modded people and use them as unwitting carriers of the exposer program. I've seen similar tactics, back in Neo-San Francisco."

Alma pulled her glove back on. "I think you're right. Unfortunately. But at least this particular program can't do any damage as long as I don't activate the standby mode."

"You haven't thought about rebooting the entire system?" Boss asked, and flexed her own artificial arm. "I like a nice bit of spring cleaning occasionally."

"It takes up to 24 hours to finish a true reset, and I'd be handless and useless the entire time. More importantly, it would destroy the evidence." Alma visibly steeled herself. Her determination was a little scary, but it also gave Jill hope. "If I can just keep awake, I can find a way to extract the proof and do my own bit of exposing."

Jill jumped to action. "Right. Let's get you something caffeinated. Didi should have something that keeps you from nodding off."

"Use the BTC company code, save your money," Boss offered. God, she was the best.

Alma smiled gratefully at Jill. She grasped her arm in a squeeze, but there was little comfort in the gesture, knowing what those hands had just been up to. Alma seemed to realize it too, and withdrew her hand, hiding it under her arm.

When Jill came back from the vending machines, having dodged a lengthy argument with Didi about soul/jazz fusions in the late 1970's, she found Boss and Alma chatting by her work station. She poured Alma's Bubble Maté on ice, figuring the shock of cold could only help.

"Thank you. I never drink this stuff, usually." Alma took a big gulp, and shivered. "Sets me apart from most people working in systems security, I guess."

"I think you should go as off the grid as possible if you want that data extracted and shared," Boss commented. "Don't go to your usual experts; Zaibatsu will track you down in a hot second. Pick someone operating without a licence."

"Risky. But less traceable." Alma took another sip. "Problem is, it's going to take time to find a nanomachine extractor or dataminer who's not on any official books."

"Nanomachine extraction?" Gillian piped up as he mixed Jamie another Gut Punch. "I know someone who does that on the side. No data trail."

"Wait." Jamie finished the Gut Punch in one gulp, and handed the glass right back for a refill. "This wouldn't happen to be Velix, would it?"

Gillian was at least as bad as Alma at looking nonchalant. "Uh... possibly."

Jamie turned to speak to them directly. He was never not serious, but his expression was downright grave now. "Bad idea. They work for some really shady people. Don't mess with that crowd."

Alma pursed her lips. "Well, unless I can come up with someone who's a better mix of shady and reputable, fast, it'll do. Have you seen them in action?"

"Our paths have crossed," Gillian said vaguely. "But they're very good. Jamie could tell you the same, if he wanted to."

"I don't," Jamie said, and stared at his latest Gut Punch. "Please be careful."

Jamie was an all right sort. Especially for an assassin who was touchy about his organic status.

Gillian shrugged. "Yeah, obviously, keep your wits about you. They're set up in the back room of Zenith 7, the night club near the night market. The crowd there can be a bit wild. But as long as you can pay, you should be fine."

Boss had been listening in closely. "If it's Zenith 7, your BTC credentials should get you in and out through the employee entrance without any problems, Jill."

"Um." It suddenly dawned on Jill that throughout all this, she was supposed to have been working. She blushed all the way to her ears. "Boss, I--"

Alma went to say something, too, but the boss silenced her with a flip of her hand. "Oh yes. I'm not sending you off alone. You've always been a good customer, Titty Hacker. And I know Jill cares about you a great deal."

Jill managed not to groan. _Note to self: don't discuss embarrassing crushes with your boss. No matter how awesome she is in every way._

Boss made a shooing motion at her. "Just go. Gil and I will manage. I expect you back here for tomorrow's shift, though."

"Thank you," Alma said earnestly, picking up her coat. "And thank you for the tip... Gillian."

His smile was hesitant, but warm; it alleviated the general... _Johnness_ of his face. "See you again, Miss Armas."

*

Alma paid for a taxi to Zenith 7. Jill couldn't even remember when she'd last been in one. On the way, she saw the tense way Alma stared out into the traffic, and almost reached out for her hand.

Then she remembered that Alma was probably touchy about her hands right now, and they'd never held hands in any case. She squeezed her hands into tight fists instead.

"Your boss is a really caring person, isn't she?" Alma flicked her hair over her shoulder and smiled at Jill, the tension around her eyes easing a little.

Jill never missed a chance to sing Dana Zane's praises. "Oh yeah. She's kind of amazing, how she looks after people. I think part of it might be because she used to be a police officer." She considered for a moment. "Then again, she used to be a pro wrestler, too, and who knows what else, so take that with a grain of salt."

Alma's smile widened. "And you care about her too."

"Oh look, we're here," Jill said before the Lilim driving the taxi got the chance.

Zenith 7 was one of, if not the biggest BTC nightclub in Glitch City, but it wasn't a particularly glamorous one. What it lacked in class it made up for in size and volume. It shovelled people in, drained their accounts, and shovelled them out again with impressive efficiency. The two of them stuck out a little, not even remotely dressed for clubbing, but it wasn't the sort of place where people cared too much about details. Jill was still glad the bouncer waved them through the side door and they could slip right past the dancing crowds. Alma followed her lead as they made their way to the backstage area.

When they asked a bartender hurrying by where they could find Velix, he pointed them to a door marked Maintenance. Alma knocked on it.

"Yeah, just bring it in," someone called from inside.

They glanced at each other, and stepped through. The room was made small by the sheer amount of stuff in it. Lilim parts were piled in haphazard mini mountains on the floor, and the only shelf groaned under the weight of a dozen crates filled with tech junk. The biggest piece of furniture was a desk with three projected screens hovering above it. The person sitting at the desk looked at them with two piercingly blue artificial eyes.

"Well? I told you I wanted it in a bottle!"

They had broad, round features, and their curling hair was so wild that it took Jill a moment to notice the twitching ears piercing through it. _A Cat Boomer who works with nanomachines? Somehow that feels wrong._

"Velix, isn't it? Hi," Alma said, and straightened her back, putting her best tits forward. "I'm in need of some assistance with data extraction from my hand mods. Gillian told us you were the one to talk to."

Velix's laser sharp eyes narrowed. "Gillian? Gillian who?"

"Tall, dark-haired guy," Jill put in. "Doesn't look like a Gillian. More like a John."

"Oh. That John-looking guy. Well, I'm not doing any ID code alterations at the moment. Too much hassle."

ID code alterations? One more question not to ask Gil.

"This is about an independently operating sleeper program," Alma insisted. "I need it fully extracted from the core and secondary processes of my hands, and I need its signature, along with any hidden logs. Any additional mined data copied to an external source as well. Can you do it?"

"Ex infected you with spybots, huh? Don't answer that. I don't want to know." Velix licked their lips and weighed her question. Their cat ears twitched impatiently. "Eighty thousand. Direct transfer, in advance."

"Are you _kidding_ ," Jill started, but Alma spoke right over her.

"Fifty in advance. Twenty when you're done. If I'm happy with the results."

Velix made an irritated noise. " _Thirty_ once you're happy with the results. And you will be. Sit."

Alma looked around for anything to sit on, and finally settled on the edge of the desk. She reluctantly removed her gloves.

Velix brushed random junk aside to make room for her hands. "We'll start with a scan. You can make the transfer while I do a quick analysis."

"How long is this going to take?" Jill asked, looking at the door over her shoulder.

Velix shrugged. "Depends on the infection. Silence from you now. Go get me that bottle of Mulan Tea, make yourself useful."

"I'm staying right here," Jill said firmly.

Alma couldn't find a place for her gloves, and finally handed them to Jill. "That's sweet, but you literally can't hold my hand right now. You'll just be bored out of your mind. Go check out Zenith 7's liquor cabinets. I'll be fine."

Ouch. Right to her weak spot.

"...You're sure?"

Nobody could say no to the smile Alma gave her. "I'll be right here."

"I won't be long," Jill promised.

She walked out of the junk-filled room, leaving Velix to nag Alma about the advance payment.

It didn't take long to find someone who was willing to show her The Good Stuff, in other words, the bottles the club kept mostly for show and only for very special guests. Jill couldn't explain the thrill of comparing years on the dusty labels, and admiring the beautiful liqueur bottles. It was simply all so fascinating. Finally, she found the tea Velix had asked for and headed back, figuring the two should've got somewhere by now.

The door was ajar. She'd left it shut.

Jill sneaked closer, holding the bottle tightly in her sweating hand. Raised voices echoed into the hallway.

"Hey, you can't just walk in here!" Velix was insisting. "I've got fucking rights. You want to question me, then get an arrest warrant."

Agonisingly slowly, Jill peeked into the room. Velix's ears were flattened. Alma was on her feet, defiant but tense. Someone was standing with his back to the doorway. He was dressed in similar clothes to the bouncer outside, but the insignia on his black coat was different.

_Zaibatsu._

"I have no questions for you," the man said, and took a chrome pistol from a holster inside his jacket.

"Hey--" Velix didn't get any further. A strange, muffled noise, like someone had tapped on her eardrum, rang through the room. One of Velix's shining artificial eyes went out like a blown bulb, and the pile of junk behind them was splattered with something wet and dark.

He'd shot them. He'd shot them just like that.

" _Run!_ " Jill cried out, and threw the bottle at the man with all her might.

Alma dashed across the room, and Jill caught her with both arms before they stumbled into the hallway and away. The bottle had crashed into something, but she didn't know if she'd hit the man or not.

"The club floor," Alma said right to her ear, and they ran into the crowd, nudging and pushing and elbowing their way through the dancers.

Alma's hand sought hers, and she grabbed it so they wouldn't be separated. Idiot. She should've never left her side. That was why she was here.

They stopped to catch their breath behind a large pillar.

"Can you see him?" Alma asked. She had to speak practically into her ear, the music was thumping so loud.

Jill silently handed over her gloves. Her gaze jumped frantically from face to face. The club lights and the fog machines didn't exactly help.

"No. What the fuck happened back there? Where did he come from?"

Alma was looking at the crowd, too, but she leaned casually against her as she pulled the gloves back on. "Relax. Act like we're just taking a break from dancing to make out or something." 

Oh yeah, that was a relaxing thought. Pure zen. 

"Alma. He _shot that creep_."

"I know. I'm trying not to think about it." Alma shifted against Jill, and petted her hair. It was actually kind of comforting. "Velix must've made a wrong move. It triggered an automatic warning signal. Zaibatsu cops are modded to respond to ultrasound signals."

"Like dogs," Jill muttered to herself, and shuddered. Evil corgis danced at the edges of her vision. "We should keep moving. Come on, let's try to get to that side door. We could slip out the same way we got in."

They made their way through the chilling area, and did their best to look like they belonged to a group of people standing in the long line for the bathrooms. There was still no sign of the Zaibatsu cop, but that wasn't exactly reassuring. Who knew what kind of latest Nanocamo he was wielding; he could've been standing next to them and they wouldn't have been able to recognize him.

Alma had started a conversation with one of the girls in the line, and was in the middle of a sob story about a stalking ex who wouldn't leave her alone.

"We thought we better leave," she said, and her arm closed possessively around Jill's waist. Wait a minute. "He just can't accept that I'm with her now."

Damn Alma and her constant curveballs. Jill did her best to smile and act like a girlfriend. It shouldn't have been so hard. She'd been someone's girlfriend for years.

But then Alma leaned in and breathed into her hair while she chatted away, and the difficulty curve took a sudden swing upwards. She was so... tactile. Jill had been able to dodge most of her teasing offers for hugs and sleepovers so far, but now Alma was taking full advantage of their situation.

The girls seemed sympathetic, awwing and nodding at Alma's story. Jill realized it fitted the story to glance about, so she did. Still no sign of the cop. Maybe they could make a run for it.

"Come on, sweetie," she said, and grabbed Alma's hand. "Let's go see if the other bathroom line is shorter. I want to get out of here."

"Gotta go," Alma beamed at her new friends, and let Jill lead her away.

"What is it with you and wanting to play pretend to be my girlfriend all the time?" Jill all but snapped once the girls were out of earshot.

"Jill..." Alma stopped her, grabbing her by the arms. Both of them glanced around, but then focused on each other again. "Hey. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd mind so much."

"Forget it," Jill mumbled.

 _I wouldn't mind so much if you actually_ meant _any of it._

"Well, all right." Alma took a deep breath, visibly relieved. "Let's get out of here and get a taxi, okay?"

The same bouncer, a middle-aged woman with a thousand-yard stare and her hair cropped very short, was at the door; she didn't even ask to see Jill's BTC code again, just waved them through with a nod.

"I guess I'll just have to take a chance with some of the data extractors I know," Alma thought aloud while digging through her pockets for her phone. "It's risky, but if I throw enough money in it might--"

Something cold and chrome was pressed under Jill's jaw, and a long steely arm closed around her, stopping her in her tracks.

"You, with the modded hands," the Zaibatsu cop said, in the monotone of someone whose organic percentage was likely in single digits. "Raise them both, palm away from me."

The side of the gun burrowed into Jill's throat so hard that she almost gagged.

Alma took a deep breath, and held it. She raised her hands, and very deliberately, brought her right hand to her left wrist, turning it around so the cop could see the back of her hand. "I'm initiating full system reset. It'll erase everything. You want to erase this problem, don't you? Let her go."

The back of her hand glowed faintly with the text _Initiating hard reset. Proceed?_

"Do it," the cop said without any indication of surprise.

"If you let her go."

Jill was shoved to the side. She stumbled to find her feet, coughing.

Alma hadn't hesitated. _Hard reset in progress. Shutting down._ Her hands slumped and hung from her wrists like puppets with cut strings.

"See? It's gone now. Like it was never even there. You can let us both leave." Alma lowered her limp hands. Jill watched her throat work. "You can-- No, no, _no_ , Jill!"

Jill barely had time to register that the gun was aimed in her direction again. All she could hear was Alma's panicked scream.

"Drop it," a female voice said.

The horrible tap against her eardrum never came. The cop turned around to face the bouncer. She had her phone aimed steadily at him.

"As a licensed BTC security personnel I must inform you that this encounter is being recorded," she said, her voice steady. "So drop that gun and get off our property, or the vid of a Zaibatsu operative harrassing BTC employees in the biggest BTC establishment in the city is going first on your boss's desk, and then it'll go viral."

 _Thank fuck I didn't have time to change out of my work uniform_ , Jill thought. Her heart was trying to escape through her ears.

"And I don't think your bosses want any more wide-spread footage of trigger-happy operatives after what happened with the White Knights, now do they? Lower the gun. And walk away."

The cop was probably calculating odds, not actually hesitating. Finally, he lowered his gun, although he made no attempt to put it back in the holster, and took a few steps away from Jill and Alma.

"That's it. Keep walking."

The bouncer didn't lower her phone before the Zaibatsu cop had disappeared into the traffic completely.

"Oh my God," Alma said shakily. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

She raised her arms, moving towards Jill to embrace her, and for once Jill had no complaints about her touchy-feely nature. Alma's hands made the gesture look like the beginning of a zombie walk. Jill hugged her close for a moment, then stepped back.

"You all right?" the bouncer asked, checking her recording.

Jill nodded. "Yeah. Thank you, seriously. I was just thinking... I've never felt better about working in a BTC chain bar."

The bouncer snorted in a good-natured kind of way. "Girl, what's even the point of working for a big corp if you can't pit it against another corp every now and then? Hold on. I'm getting you some company to make sure that cop doesn't follow you home." She raised the phone to her ear. "Raj? Your break is over. Get your ass over to door five."

Jill's heart was still hammering. Her hand sought out Alma's, and squeezed her unmoving fingers. "We need a place where you can lay low until your hands get back to normal."

Although Alma couldn't move her fingers, Jill got the impression that she meant to squeeze back. "Yeah, that's... probably a good idea. Somewhere I've never been before, ideally."

Jill gnawed at her lip, and kept her hold on Alma's hand. Even unmoving, it grounded her. "...I think I know a place like that."

* 

"And... you're sure we won't be found here?" Alma sounded very small. She must've been exhausted. She'd been awake for two days, and the adrenaline was leaving Jill shaky, too.

"I can't guarantee that, but..." The keycard stuck to the reader, of course, and Jill gave it a hard smack before trying again. They both jumped at that. Jill and violence were an uneasy mix. "Neither your family nor your clientele live anywhere nearby. Nothing but corporation subsidized units around here. And we doubled back twice from where Raj dropped us near the metro station."

The door finally opened, and Jill gestured Alma to get in. This wasn't the way she imagined Alma's first visit to go, and she had imagined several versions of the event. None of them had included this awful, wired tension. She was grinding her back teeth and couldn't stop.

She focused on Fore, who walked out from under the kotatsu to greet her, and abruptly turned around, deciding that two humans were at least one too many. Oh well. He'd come out to say hi to Alma when he felt like it.

Alma walked in, her limp hands shoved into her armpits, shoulders at her ears.

"It's cosy," she commented.

"Small," Jill corrected. The tension made her scornful of platitudes. "I know. But there's room for a guest mattress over there, if I move the kotatsu next to the wall. Or you can have the kotatsu, if you want. It's really warm."

Alma's face regained some of its usual animation, her eyes crinkling with her gently teasing smile.

"Hey, I finally get to have a sleepover with you and you're going to deny me cuddles?"

Jill could feel her own shoulders starting to rise towards her ears. Now this was starting to resemble the imagined versions of this visit. The heated imaginations, at least. It didn't put her at ease, just shifted the tension to a different shade.

"I... Whatever you want." She stumbled on the words, as blunt as a goddamn teenager. Why was she like this? "It's been a long day, and I... I figured you wanted to skip the part where we talk boys and paint each other's toenails."

Alma opened her mouth, then hesitated, turning to face her fully. Her unmoving hands stayed under her arms. "Wait. Are you okay with this? After what just happened with the, the gun shoved at your face and everything--"

"No, no, it's not that," Jill started to protest, although it kind of was, and she hadn't stopped feeling the cold chrome against her neck, but Alma talked right over her.

"I can get a hotel room or something, until the hard reset is done, if you... If you'd be more comfortable? I've already asked way too much of you today. You've been so great." She raised her limp hands and went for an awkward, grip-free hug.

"N-no! What the hell?" Jill shook aside Alma's arms, realising in a flash just how easy it was. "You think I'm going to chicken out _now_? Chase you out where there could be more of those psycho corporate cops out there? They got into your fancy apartment, Alma! They can get into a hotel room!"

She'd pushed Alma against the wall by the shoulders before she quite knew what she was doing. Her breath came in hot, heavy gasps. Alma's eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open.

Her mouth. Jill had never been close enough to smell her breath before. Faint peppermint tingled on her lips.

"Okay, okay, point taken. My best chance... is to lay low." Alma swallowed hard. Her arms were still raised, her knuckles resting almost casually against the wall on her either side. You couldn't even tell that her hands were not functioning. A tense frown cut through her vulnerable demeanor. "But I don't want you to be mad at me, Jill. Not you. You've never wanted me here, in your space, before, you always had your excuses, and I--"

"No, I did, I wanted you here," Jill hurried to explain, and that's what they were both doing now, hurrying to explain, before it was too late. Too late for what? "I just didn't know how to take it when you-- All that talk about sleepovers, and your _teasing_ , and I know you didn't mean it--"

No, this wasn't a conversation they should have. They really shouldn't. And she shouldn't have been still standing there, too close to smell and feel Alma's hitching breaths, too close to her cute nose and warm eyes and her fucking amazing chest, rising and falling.

Then Alma's gaze dropped to her mouth, and her leg hooked behind Jill's, and Jill fell into her.

The first touch of her lips to Alma's was jittery. They almost jumped apart. Jill could taste the "sorry" before it evaporated in the heat of their mouths meeting for real. Alma tilted her head and claimed her mouth with a sincerity that shocked her, and she let herself be kissed. She pushed Alma's coat off her shoulders, and her own coat and scarf were gone before she realized Alma was trying to clumsily pull her closer with her gripless hands.

She broke away from the kiss and took a hold of Alma's wrist, touching chrome and skin peeking from underneath the glove. Despite the tension thrumming in the air, Alma didn't resist. Heady with the new sense of control, Jill took her other hand and pushed them both against the wall, watching Alma watching her with a hazy focus. She was trusted. She was-- she was actually-- Alma _wanted her to do this_.

Jill kept her hold, and mouthed the side of Alma's neck, tasting her vulnerability. Alma bucked against her, and she met the movement, both of them seeking more friction. Jill's pulse thumped in her ears. Alma's body was warm and soft and demanding, and had too many layers covering it. The next kiss was distracted and impatient, harsh breaths between sharp points of contact, but once Jill had worked her own vest and shirt buttons open and pushed Alma's sweater up it slowed down again.

Jill's head was swimming from the combined feeling of skin on skin and having Alma practically devour her mouth. She could barely keep up; Alma didn't have her hands, but her mouth more than made up for it, sucking and nipping and teasing and driving her insane. Jill's hand hovered at the skin right below Alma's lacy bra, teasing them both. The hungry _nnh_ Alma made against her lips finally gave her the courage to reach up. She cupped the side of her breast, marvelling at the soft firmness of it, and her thumb glided over the lace to find her nipple, straining against the rough-soft fabric.

Her first stroke across the nipple was tentative, but Alma squirmed deliciously against her, and she rubbed at the peak, the rest of her hand closing around the breast. There was so much more than a handful. It gave her a sudden impulse to _grab_ at Alma, bury her fingers into all that lace-covered softness and hear what kind of noises she could coax out of her. Bury herself in her, have all of her she could have, before this moment was over.

 _Let's just do this_ , she lied, as her free hand wrangled the zipper of Alma's jeans open, _let's get it out of our systems and then we'll be good._ Wet lace met her hand. She didn't want to be good. Good had no substance. It had exactly as much weight as a tomorrow's problem. Right now, she had Alma grinding against her hand, desperately seeking more, and she wanted to give her more, even more than she could handle.

It was easy to move the soaked lace aside, and she roughly pushed labia apart, exposing nerve endings for her greedy hand. Teasing was useless, they were both way beyond teasing; she curved her finger until her knuckle rubbed against Alma's clit, and when she jumped and squirmed, Jill was prepared, keeping up with the movement so as not to lose a moment's contact. She wanted to be relentless. She wanted to drown Alma in want like Alma was drowning her. Had been drowning her, for ages, kept her gasping.

Alma's legs opened eagerly for her, as much as her jeans allowed, and she arched her back against the wall, her mouth opening in a breathy _ahh_. It didn't take her long to start grinding back against Jill's fingers, and they found a mutual rhythm, pushing each other to get rougher as the heat rose between them.

"Ah, fuck me, fuck me," Alma demanded between gasped breaths; "fuck me, Jill, give me your fingers, I need your fi-hingers--"

Hearing her name made a sudden bright bolt of want strike within Jill. It overwhelmed her -- _I'm really doing this to her_ \-- and she became sharply aware of the delicious discomfort of her own wetness. Alma made hungry noises, fucking herself shamelessly against Jill's hand.

Jill tried to capture her mouth in a kiss, but it was hard to keep the contact. There were too many harsh breaths, too many incoherent noises for _more_ between their mouths. Jill's free hand dropped from the side of Alma's face to her heaving breasts, still trapped under the lace. She could make out the darker shade of her aureola through it. Fuck, Alma was so, so gorgeous. Finding a moment's focus, Jill gave Alma's cunt a few long strokes before pushing inside her. Immediately, the muscles caught around her finger, and Alma's moan was almost enough to make Jill come then and there.

A little bit of teasing, and Alma opened up against her, inviting her to add another finger to fuck her with. Alma pushed against her hand so hard, driving her fingers deeper, that it took Jill a while to find her clit again and nudge her thumb against it. Alma was hot and wet and tense against her and around her. Jill found herself making little noises, too, because this was so messy and perfect, having Alma like this against the wall, coming apart at her touch.

She clutched at Alma, who couldn't clutch her back, and felt her start to shudder against her hand. A helpless, pleading moan dragged out of her as she convulsed and buckled, a deep blush rising to her cheeks. Jill panted, her hand convulsing back against her like she wanted to catch her climax and hold onto it. She watched as clarity slowly returned to Alma's eyes behind her crooked glasses, and even through the haze of her own desire, half-expected to be shoved away.

Instead, Alma's flushed face broke into a honey-sweet smile, and she hooked her leg behind Jill to crash her tense and wanting body against hers. Jill's skirt had been riding up all this time, but she helped it along, desperate for more contact, more pressure against her aching clit. She was so close-- it wouldn't take much, not long at all--

Alma caught her in another one of those kisses that made her head spin. Jill pushed her roughly against the wall, and felt the open zipper of her jeans rub against her through her panties. She gasped into the kiss; it felt so good, but not enough, and she couldn't stop teasing herself by rubbing herself against Alma like a needy animal.

Between one kiss and the next, Alma worked one of her unmoving hands between them. Jill's hazy mind only caught on when the side of the gloved hand pressed between her labia. She pushed against the unmoving hand, revelling at the added pressure. Alma might not have had working fingers, but the blunt ridges of her knuckles felt so good. It was either the weirdest handjob or the tamest fisting she'd ever had.

 _This should be creepy, right,_ some corner of her mind insisted. _What the hell are you doing, humping her switched-off hands?_ One look at Alma's face made the rest of those thoughts disappear. She recognized that warm, smug smile, beaming at her through endless teasing over the bar.

_She's enjoying this. Oh, you bitch, Alma. Gorgeous, gorgeous bitch in matching fucking lacey underwear--_

The angle was awkward, taking her from too little pressure to too much in one jerky movement of her hips, but stopping was impossible. Her ears were ringing from the roar of the mounting tension. She felt like a danger zone, full of pulsating lights and dull alarm, repeating an unheeded warning. Oh, she couldn't, she couldn't stop it from building up, it was beyond her control now, and she was suddenly coming in vicious, bright bursts, almost fully clothed and writhing against Alma.

"...kay?"

"Huh?" Her ears were ringing so loud. Her nerve endings, screaming at her a moment ago, were leaving her numb.

Alma was still leaning against the wall, holding Jill awkwardly close with her arm. Her other gloved hand was gleaming wet. "You okay? Can we sit down? Because I'm kind of-- Oh, wow, Jill. Jill, we just fucked in your hallway."

Panic seized Jill, and she scrambled to a better footing, putting some distance between them. She worked the skirt back down to cover her drenched underwear. "Uh. Y-yeah, there's floor cushions over there. I'll just-- I need a smoke. I'll be right back."

Did she even have her cigarettes? Her fingers shook. Of course she did, she was still wearing her work clothes. When she opened the balcony door, the cold night air made her shiver and pull her unbuttoned shirt closed.

She lit the cigarette, and watched it glow. She didn't even want one. She'd just wanted to run.

"Okay, I'm not doing this," she mumbled aloud. "Screw this. Let it be horrible."

She flicked the cigarette away, unsmoked, and went back inside.

Alma wasn't sitting down. She was exactly where Jill had left her, against the wall, dishevelled and just fucked and still gorgeous. And livid.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Jill took a shuddery breath and let it out. "That was shitty of me. I'm not that good at... this part."

Now that Jill dared to really look at Alma's face, she seemed more hurt than angry. "So you just left me standing here unzipped and handless?"

"I guess I did. I'm sorry. Do you want me to, um..."

"Yeah. Zip me up. Please."

It felt weirdly intimate, after having had her fingers buried in her cunt. Jill's hands were still shaking a little.

Alma had pushed her own sweater down to cover her lacey bra. "Help me get these boots off, too?"

They were tall boots, and took a lot of unlacing. Jill eased the black leather down her friend's long legs. Her socks were thin and fine, silky against her touch. She wasn't sure which one of them was supposed to be feeling vulnerable here, but the shift was electrifying, and she could feel a slow, rolling wave of want inside her. She still wanted her, but more than that, she wanted to be wanted by her. For a brief moment, she'd had that. She knew the taste of it now.

"Okay. Now we sit. And talk."

Alma was bossy for someone who'd just been fucked to the wall, not that Jill was complaining. She was still floundering slightly when they found the cushions.

"So." Jill bit her lip. "That was like... tension relief."

"Clearly." Alma shook her hair over her shoulder. She obviously wished she could finger-comb away the snags.

"And... you probably wanted cuddles. You're a cuddler, I know. You've told me that. And I just walked away." Jill bit off a frustrated scream against her hand. "My one chance of doing this and I fuck it up. Of course I fuck it up. God, Alma, I'm sorry..."

Alma gave her one of those soft, gentle looks that melted her into a puddle. "Can I have cuddles now?"

"Yeah," Jill mumbled, and slid off her cushion into Alma's arms. She wrapped her arms and the rest of her around her, and held on tight. She wanted to hold on to how good it felt.

It felt safe, she realized with a little shudder.

"Oh yeah, you're not a cuddler at all," Alma whispered into her hair.

They shared a choked little chuckle, and didn't let go.

"You haven't fucked anything up yet," Alma finally said, and pressed a warm kiss on Jill's forehead. "Because I'm not done with you. You want to finger-bang me against the wall, you have to deal with the rest of me."

"Uh oh." Jill couldn't bring herself to sound worried. If there was such a thing as hopeful apprehension, she was feeling it in spades.

"Mm-hm. The least of all, I want to get naked. Skin-to-skin contact. And considering what a day it's been, wet and warm skin contact, with soap suds."

Jill shifted into a more comfortable position in her arms. The smell of moringa flowers filled her senses, this close. "My bathroom's like a matchbox. I can pretty much guarantee skin contact."

"See? We're making it work. This doesn't sound fucked up at all to me."

Jill pulled back enough to look at her face. "Not even a little bit?"

She watched Alma consider her answer, actually consider it, and found it the most charming thing she'd ever seen.

"Mmmaybe. But let's at least call it a mutual fuck-up, in that case. I'm not just being charitable, I'm kind of-- I'm making this up as I go along. This morning I had two working hands and confidence in my own sexuality, and now you've come all over my switched-off digits, and I'm-- I don't really know what to do about that."

Jill did. She reached for the hand in question and peeled off the sticky glove, then took the other glove off, too. She held Alma's unmoving cybernetic hands in hers and took a moment to look at them. They were beautiful, in the same way expensive designer jewelry was beautiful; cold and perfect.

"Well, the hard reset should be done by tomorrow, at least. And if it isn't, we'll find someone to take a look at them."

Alma smiled, and seemed to take some comfort from it. "Too bad I can't just reboot my sexuality and have it wake up tomorrow, ready and comprehensible."

"Funny. That's what my sexuality does every morning."

Alma laughed, a snorty, giggly, unguarded laugh that was so infectious that Jill joined in.

"Okay, I _definitely_ need to see that. And I'll get a chance to, won't I? Since we're having a sleepover. We can even paint our toenails, since you mentioned it. I actually find that pretty relaxing."

Somehow, they'd slipped right back to their usual teasing, but instead of building tension it seemed to be dissolving it, leaving everything relaxed and comfortable.

"Yeah, but I think we should skip the part where we talk about boys. Don't want to confuse that sexuality of yours any further."

Alma giggled and slapped her arm limply with her nonfunctioning hand. "C'mere, you." She shifted so they were face to face, and rested her arms on Jill's shoulders. "You're getting that jitter you get when you want to go out for a smoke, and I want a good, sloppy kiss before you ruin it."

Jill obliged, although she couldn't imagine ever describing a kiss from Alma as sloppy. She was simply too good with her mouth. Immediately, her thoughts strayed to other uses for that mouth, and her cunt convulsed eagerly.

_Oh, God. That might happen. That might actually happen._

"Mm. One more?" Alma mumbled happily against her mouth.

Jill gave her the tiniest of pecks, eliciting an exasperated snort. "I'll be right back. And I'll brush my teeth."

This time, it didn't feel like running away when she opened the balcony door. She glanced over her shoulder at Alma. She smiled back, squirming impatiently against the cushion.

*

The combination of a shared shower that used up all her hot water, late night soup and curling up under the kotatsu with Alma -- who was wearing a pair of Jill's panties and Jill's old tee-shirt that her tits turned into a crop top -- meant Jill was out like a light. Even a dedicated night owl couldn't resist crawling under Alma's arm when she offered it. Their legs tangled easily, and Jill didn't even have time to crave a cigarette before she was fast asleep.

Her body stirred awake early, confused about the fact that she'd gone to bed at an hour when she was usually working. For just a second she tensed, glancing from the door to the balcony and then the alarm panel, but everything was as she'd left it, and she flopped back down. 

Fore was sitting on the floor, having a morning bath.

_Didn't even have to sit on your face to wake you up._

"Yeah, good morning to you too," Jill mumbled.

Alma had drawn both of her hands to her chin in her sleep, almost like she had been blowing warmth into them. Her braid looked ready to fall apart. Jill had braided her hair after the shower, and she wasn't very good at it. She reached out and pulled a loose strand of hair away from Alma's mouth. She'd brushed Alma's teeth, too. It was amazing how comfortable Alma was with Jill acting as her hands. Jill was fairly certain she would've flipped out.

Alma's left hand curled towards a fist.

Jill shot up, her heart skipping a beat. Fore zoomed out of the room. "Alma!"

Alma stirred awake and blinked at her in confusion and alarm. Her other hand came to life, too, jumping a little and then spreading against the pillow as she pushed herself to sit up. "What? What's wrong?"

Barely-awake Alma was an adorable sight, Jill decided, then slapped her brain to focus. "Your hands! They're functional again!"

Alma's gaze fell on the hand she'd instinctively braced herself on. "Oh! I thought the reset would take longer."

"Does that mean... did it work? Is it... is it gone?"

Alma turned her hands around a few times, moving each finger in turn, reclaiming them. She let out a satisfied sigh and reached out for her glasses, then opened the control panel. Jill couldn't help tensing up when the projected keyboard blinked alight. Alma typed against the pillow, and a page after another lit up on the back of her hand, then vanished.

"Everything's back to original settings." She paused and bit her lip. "I can't find any ad nanomachines from the corner shop I get my coffee from. If those are all gone... I doubt anything else could've survived. Hard reset is a pretty drastic solution. It deletes and purges everything except core functions."

She sounded wistful instead of victorious. The light flickered away and left nothing but her naked chrome hands against the pillowcase.

"That's good, right?" Jill asked, quietly.

"Yeah, I just..." Alma gave her a sad smile. "It's like waking up and finding your tattoos are gone. These are not the hands that I had yesterday, Jill. These are just... your basic factory-setting hands I might as well have picked up from a sale today."

Jill pressed close, and Alma accepted her hug with a deep sigh. Jill managed not to jump at the hand petting her hair.

"You'll grow into them. Or they'll grow into you."

Alma held her tighter. "They better. I have so much to do to fix up this mess. I can't un-expose people, but I can muddy the waters."

"What're you going to do?"

"Sweetheart, the less you know, the better."

Jill withdrew, and Alma's face didn't disappoint, treating her to a warm and impish smile. It was the first time she'd seen that smile without make-up. It made it look candid, a secret smile just for her.

"Hacker shit?"

"Mm-hm. Hacker shit."

Jill took Alma's hand, and to her delight, she laced her fingers through hers. "I'm good with leaving it at that, just... be careful."

"Don't worry. I won't let this happen again. And I won't bring any more trouble to your door. Promise."

Jill lay back down, and Alma followed her, happy to slip her bare legs under the blanket again. Their hands remained entwined.

"I think Boss was thrilled at you bringing trouble to our door," Jill pointed out.

"Maybe. She seems pretty fearless. But I want Valhalla to stay open, y'know?" Alma shifted closer, and stroked Jill's foot with her toes. "And I wasn't actually talking about the bar."

Jill hoped her blush wasn't as blazing as it felt. "You... didn't bring anything to my door. Technically. That was the whole point of coming here, wasn't it?"

Alma disentangled her hand from hers, leaving a pang of disappointment behind, but she only did it so she could cup Jill's face with both hands and give her a sweet and breathless kiss.

"I mean it, babe. I'm going to do my best to protect you from now on."

Jill's blush had reached furnace levels. She found Alma's ass and gave it a little fondle under the covers, thrilled that Alma was wearing her underwear.

"What's with the pet names all of a sudden?"

Alma kissed her again, keeping it luscious and unhurried. "It makes you all flustered." Her hand slipped easily under Jill's loose tee-shirt. "Doesn't it, honey?"

It would be an even bigger thrill, Jill reconsidered, if Alma _wasn't_ wearing her underwear. The playful banter enboldened her, made things easy. Apparently, Alma's sexuality had successfully rebooted during the night, along with her hands.

Or then she'd simply decided that it didn't matter.

"Stop it," Jill said between kisses, and didn't mean a syllable of it.

Alma wriggled out of her panties, kicked them into the blankets, and nuzzled her ear. "Cupcake," she whispered into it, before teasing the earlobe with her teeth.

Laughter bubbled out of Jill. She squirmed with it, trying to hold back guffaws. " _Stop._ "

"Dumpling," Alma insisted, kissing the word into Jill's neck. "Sugar plum."

Jill lifted her arms so that Alma could pull her shirt off, and before she could lower her arms, they were kissing again. Managing to keep her giggling under control enough to hold on to the kiss, Jill ran her fingers down Alma's soft skin from her upper back to her buttocks. They'd showered together, but she hadn't really explored like this before.

_I can't believe I didn't even unhook her bra when we had sex._

"Ooh, I've got it now." Alma beamed down at Jill. Her eyes kept slipping down to her chest, which warmed Jill through and through. There wasn't even much there to see. " _Jillybean._ "

Jill narrowed her eyes. "You call me that in the bar, and we're strangers."

Alma laughed, not like a cartoon villain as Jill half expected, but that giggly, snorty laugh Jill had never heard before the previous night. "Jillybean."

"I hate you," Jill mumbled, and tried to sound halfway convincing, which fell apart when Alma's mouth closed around her nipple.

A heavy and honeyed sensation fell over Jill as Alma's left hand went to pet her other breast, the smooth chrome catching hold of her nipple and pinching softly. All the while, Alma's mouth worked on the other nipple and aureola, coaxing Jill's nerves to light up. Jill had been right. That mouth did feel incredible even when it wasn't kissing hers. But the heat it cajoled out of her was not the sharp and needy kind; this was something to luxuriate in, let it wash over them in waves.

"There's a theme here... if you've noticed," Alma said between swirls of her tongue. Her breath was cool on the wet skin before she dove down again.

Alma's braid fell further apart as Jill's hands groped for a hold. "Nnh... What?"

The miracle mouth moved on to the other breast. Alma's hand took over, relentlessly playing with the nipple. Those artificial fingers were a lot nimbler than they looked. She didn't answer Jill right away, focusing on working her lips and tongue until Jill's nipples were achingly hard peaks and her cunt felt like it was melting.

Alma licked her lower lip. She gazed down at Jill, who picked up on the first sign of hesitation from her. "Of wanting to eat you up."

"I think you mean out." Jill pushed Alma's hair out of her face. She wasn't the only one who was flushed. Nor the only one who was soaking wet, from Alma's gasp when their legs moved against each other.

"Mm. Pedantic." Alma's hand circled around Jill's wrist and brought her hand to her mouth. She licked at the joints of her fingers, then nipped at the fingertips. It made little jolts of want skitter down Jill's body, especially when Alma's tongue reached the skin between her fingers. Their eyes met through Jill's fingers, and Alma smiled, pleased at something she saw on Jill's face.

"D'you ever miss your old hands?" Jill asked, as soon as the thought occurred to her.

Alma shook her head, and gave the palm of Jill's hand a wet kiss before letting go of her wrist. "No. And don't worry about not being able to return the favor. My hands have got enough attention for a while."

Jill sat up to meet her mouth in a slow and clumsy kiss. Despite her eagerness, wriggling out of her panties turned out to be harder than it should've been. There were too many kisses in the way, and it didn't help that Jill was trying to pull Alma's top off at the same time. Her nipples looked insanely good poking through it, and she'd stretched it so much Jill couldn't imagine ever wearing it again. She'd always thought at least part of Alma's incredible curves were thanks to well-fitting underwire and strategically ribbed sweaters, but she was wearing nothing under Jill's old tee-shirt now and she'd never looked better.

"It's just not fair," Jill thought aloud, trying to get up from where Alma was pinning her against the mattress. She was feeling even flatter lying on her back.

Alma put up a gentle resistance, kissing her back down again. "Hm?"

The shirt finally gave up under Jill's cajoling, and freed the most amazing pair of tits Jill had ever seen. Jill couldn't even pretend she wasn't staring at them jiggle while Alma pushed the shirt down her arms and away, her mouth going slack. "You're so damn beautiful, Alma."

Alma looked honestly surprised, which was just ludicrous. How could she take her top off and expect anything short of drooling awe? "Oh. So are you. I--I never thought I'd look at a naked girl and, and just want to get all over that, you know? But you're so... I just like you _so much_."

Jill's heart jolted and seemed to land sideways in her chest, filling it with breath-catching warmth. "Uh. Um." She made another attempt to sit up, taking advantage of Alma's momentary fluster. "What's stopping you?"

Alma kissed her firmly through a muffled giggle, and straddled her hips. " _You_ are. Lie back and let me ravish you already."

"No, no, I'm getting a taste of you, too. Especially those tits. You can't just wave those in my face and expect me to ignore them."

"Uh uh, no way." Alma's next kiss was loaded with giggles, but she wasn't budging. "I'm not having any distractions. I've never done this before. I want... I'm going to learn how to rock your world. And I can't do that if I let those hands of yours have their way with me again. _Violinist's hands_. Talk about unfair."

Jill pushed her thigh against Alma's hot, drenched cunt. She hungrily ground down against it for more friction. "Fine, have it your way. But I'm getting my turn. Hands _and_ mouth. You won't even remember your own name."

Alma kissed a path between Jill's breasts down to her ribs. "I'll still remember yours." Her tongue painted a circle around Jill's navel. " _Jillybean._ "

Jill groaned, kicking herself away from the kotatsu so that Alma wouldn't have to crawl under it to get at the rest of her. The cooler air of the room found her sweaty skin and made her shiver. "All right, that's... going to be our safeword. Because the next time I hear that, the sex stops. Right then and there."

Alma just laughed at her, and hooked her arm around her thigh. "Sure. We'll see about that."

Jill spread her legs and lifted her hips to give her full access. It felt deliciously filthy. Alma started slow and careful, with just her lips and a flicker of the tip of her tongue, but she soon dove between Jill's labia and started to chase her taste in earnest. To Jill's delight, she even followed the cues of Jill's moans and dared to use her teeth, giving the outer labia quick nips and slow gnaws. And then her wet, flat tongue lathered sweetness all over her.

Oh, she _was_ good with her mouth, anywhere she put it.

Alma took her time, too, learning how to take her almost to the point of no return, and then slowed things down again to explore some more. Her fingers prodded and pushed in and spread out, until Jill was a molten mess, fucked so wet and open that everything Alma did was bliss.

"Wanna come?" Alma mumbled against her pubic hair, the first intelligible words between them in a long while.

"Mm..." Jill couldn't quite form words herself yet. "Mmyeah. Hnh. Jus' like that..."

Alma's tongue pushed hard against her clit, and her chrome fingers curled inside her, and she let it happen. Her climax swept her up, a sweet and lazy chain of delicious shudders that went on and on and on, leaving her bone-meltingly warm and floating on air.

Alma's face appeared next to her own, when she bothered to open her eyes.

"Whoa," Alma said, looking pleased, and stole a kiss from Jill's stunned lips before wiping at her chin. "You came buckets."

"Mmnh," Jill commented eloquently. In her ears there was a constant _whoosh_ and _whoom_ , like giant wings beating.

Alma laid her head on her shoulder and curled close sighing happily. "It's okay," she whispered. "Take all the time you need. I'll just lie here and make some plans. You know, I've never had a date take me to a museum. You like museums, don't you? Art, bones, stolen jewellery?"

There was something stuck in Jill's throat all of a sudden. She found her words, but they came out a little hushed and hoarse. "You... want to take me out? Like, date out? Really?"

Alma pushed herself up in order to look her in the face. She was smiling. That wonderful, sweet, infuriating smile. "Mm-hm. Of course. Presumptuous of me? Do you only date on the third fuck, or...?"

Jill snickered, she couldn't help it, and pulled her in for a kiss. "I'll date you. I'll date the shit out of you. How can you even... _Alma_. I've been dreaming of taking you to the natural museum for ages."

"You really love those big bones, huh?"

They couldn't stop giggling against each other's mouths for long enough to kiss properly.

"Nah, the bones I can take or leave..." Jill groped for Alma's hand, and fit the sticky digits against hers. "The sink in the bathroom is just the right height, though."

Alma bit her lip girlishly, and beamed at her.

Jill wove their fingers tightly together, chrome against skin. It felt like a safe grip. One that could hold.

**Author's Note:**

> I know absolutely nothing about systems security, or how to hack the programming of artificial limbs. As you've no doubt noticed by now, all of that was just a ploy to get two sweet idiots under the same kotatsu.
> 
> Have a happy Mega Christmas! <3


End file.
